Using a dredge in Australia for recreational prospecting is illegal - information and questions

[Village]

Just on a historical side, do you guys realise that at the time legislation was drafted, the term dredge refer to a cutter dredge, suction dredges were not invented. My point about in previous posts is that I agree cutter dredges should never be allowed again in any form, amateur or commercial.

However suction excavation is classed as non invasive, and is the preferred method of the 2000's, in any industry. Personally legislation should be changed to allow suction excavation, and floating dredges up to 10 hp for amateur use.

Oh, there are also far less environmental impacts using a suction floating dredge as apposed to the current approved methods.

Food for thought.

 

[HeadsUp]

No devices we use should ever be referred to as a dredge on a public forum.

A shovel is not a dredge

A garden trowel is not a dredge

My mums nail scissors are not a dredge

An Aquarium pump is not a dredge , even if it did suck up 0.3 grams of fish poo from your day of gold hunting In the creek and it won't suck up any gold either.

People need to turn on their brain

Choose your words better , talking crap will get our hobby banned and the only permitted method could see you using a pair of tweezers to pluck gold flakes out of the river as they drift past you

 

[HeadsUp]

Just on a historical side, do you guys realise that at the time legislation was drafted, the term dredge refer to a cutter dredge, suction dredges were not invented. My point about in previous posts is that I agree cutter dredges should never be allowed again in any form, amateur or commercial.

However suction excavation is classed as non invasive, and is the preferred method of the 2000's, in any industry. Personally legislation should be changed to allow suction excavation, and floating dredges up to 10 hp for amateur use.

Oh, there are also far less environmental impacts using a suction floating dredge as opposed to the current approved methods.

Food for thought.

Mate can you run for guvmint please ?

Last time I looked we don't have too much talent in Canberra

I like your thoughts , I am as green as grandma's gardening thumbs but I can see many places where small suction units would have zero risk of adverse environmental influences

 

[Marked]

No devices we use should ever be referred to as a dredge on a public forum.

spot on.

Personally legislation should be changed to allow suction excavation, and floating d***ges up to 10 hp for amateur use.

Mate - detecting is out of my price range and such a device as you suggest is likely to be as well..if 10hp floatation "suction-sluices" were permitted, there would be little gold remaining in the areas I am able to access, given what some locals have told me about the activity through the 80's in their areas. This could push another facet of the hobby out of reach of even more people and further alienate "prospectors" from the general populace; putting at risk the existence of the hobby altogether.

Such volume processing for very little physical labour IMO goes beyond healthy recreational "hobby". Current laws/rules/regs (or their interpretation) require at least some form of physical exertion, which has the tendency to repel at least some of those bad element looking for a quick easy dollar that give the rest of us recreational prospectors a bad name when they go that little too far. You may be correct about 1:1 environmental impact, but consider the fact that actual numbers engaged in an activity count for something; I am sure you would see many more users of "suction-sluices" floating down creeks and rivers than you currently see high-bankers setup with people shoveling if that were a permitted activity.

 

[HeadsUp]

No devices we use should ever be referred to as a dredge on a public forum.

spot on.

Personally legislation should be changed to allow suction excavation, and floating d***ges up to 10 hp for amateur use.

Mate - detecting is out of my price range and such a device as you suggest is likely to be as well..if 10hp floatation "suction-sluices" were permitted, there would be little gold remaining in the areas I am able to access, given what some locals have told me about the activity through the 80's in their areas. This could push another facet of the hobby out of reach of even more people and further alienate "prospectors" from the general populace; putting at risk the existence of the hobby altogether.

Such volume processing for very little physical labour IMO goes beyond healthy recreational "hobby". Current laws/rules/regs (or their interpretation) require at least some form of physical exertion, which has the tendency to repel at least some of those bad element looking for a quick easy dollar that give the rest of us recreational prospectors a bad name when they go that little too far. You may be correct about 1:1 environmental impact, but consider the fact that actual numbers engaged in an activity count for something; I am sure you would see many more users of "suction-sluices" floating down creeks and rivers than you currently see high-bankers setup with people shoveling if that were a permitted activity.

Yes you're right

I am tempted to say please dear guvmint , may we have 2.5 Hp portable suction devices approved for use in that pile over there where 5 million tonnes of gravel has come out the end of a commercial sand washing plant

But reality is that the bad element would go berserk and try to use them anywhere and we would be looking at dead fish floating down the creeks , and hearing about undermined river banks collapsing on some kid who just went for a swim

That's human beans for ya .

 

[user 1769]

Whatever the type of dredges that the legislation was originally drafted for, you'll find that current legislation generally comes with a definition of what is meant by dredge. If you're lucky in your state the legislation is clearly written and a high banker is not classed as a dredge.

 

[Village]

Whatever the type of dredges that the legislation was originally drafted for, you'll find that current legislation generally comes with a definition of what is meant by dredge. If you're lucky in your state the legislation is clearly written and a high banker is not classed as a dredge.

If you look at the legislation, original then amendments you find like I said it was drafted after cutter dredges, and suction type had not been thought of. Being in earth science I too am what I refer to as a commercial green, I recognize we need preserve, but I also recognize that we, as Australians, have the right to prospect as our fore fathers, and the land willing, make our own fortunes. I can certainly attest, and even at times been guilty of crimes against our landscape under current approved methods.

It was, still is, and will be for a long time, food for thought

 

[user 1769]

What state are you referring to?

 

[Village]

What state are you referring to?

Oh any really, dredging on the eastern sea board is virtually illegal

 

[user 1769]

Don't know about other states but in Tasmania, the legislation is very simple: Mineral Resources Tasmania has the power to regulate conditions pertaining to prospecting licences. There is no mention of dredges at all in the legislation (which is quite recent iirc), instead the conditions of the prospecting licence state no dredges are allowed. One way it is enforced is by refusing to issue you a new licence I you breach the conditions of yours. Prospecting without one is not illegal as such, however anything you find belongs to the Government. Can't recall more detail, as I'm currently travelling in north Qld.
One thing that always pays to look out for, IMO, is ambiguity in the wording of any regulations. Anyone who's looked at the 2013 Tasmanian prospecting licence conditions probably knows what I'm talking about.

 

[BigSam]

I saw people using PVC suction pump to get into crevices, and I looked outside and saw people yabbi pumping on the sandbanks and though that's a lot easier that whacking one up in the shed just Pop down to BCF!

 

[Marked]

I saw people using PVC suction pump to get into crevices, and I looked outside and saw people yabbi pumping on the sandbanks and though that's a lot easier that whacking one up in the shed just Pop down to BCF!

...especially with the EMRO converter to make the yabby pump into a bilge-pump...

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=4066

 

[BrisJoe]

This is just a general question, I know dredges are a nogo in Aust, but this is an observation of mine from watching dredges in use on tv and youtube.

I see they have a massive amount of water flow over the sluice box, at least 10times the amount you would use for a sluice running in a creek.
Would this extra water flow not wash the gold straight out of the box?
Would it not be smarter to run a highbanker instead of a standard sluice so that the water can be regulated better by allowing the excess water to come off the oversize chute thus reducing the amount of flow coming down the 2nd tier of the highbanker?

 

[yournutz]

my guess is they need to run that much water to create enough suction to lift the rocks up the tube to the sluice .............

 

[trenchfighter]

Hey joe, i'v thought of this aswell.
See the angle of the sluicebox is very very shallow ?
with ya highbanker /sluice, your angle governs ya water speed, to clear ya riffles, not so with a floating dredge.
the speed of the water being discharged into the sluice is sufficient to run ya sluice allmost horizontally.
surprisingly very little gold is lost from floating dredges.

just re-read that....... does that make sense??

 

[WalnLiz]

You're on the money there trench. Water volume/speed can never be too high. High volume equals less angle, low volume equals more angle.

The higher the volume, the stronger the vortex, the more efficient at dropping out gold...If the volume is excessively high you can run the sluice/banker at a positive angle, (ie, up hill). We did this with the bigger 6' dredges in the good old days...lost very little gold if any,

Cheers Wal.

 

[G0lddigg@]

the upside mate is if there are natural riffles there they will load right back up again next flood

 

[Ryan27]

Yes he is scum.
Pvcool is one of his eBay user names.
I manufactured the riffles for his over priced product
And I am still waiting on payment 2 years on!
There has been numerous complaints about him on the internet
I know where he goes dredging, with a bit of luck his air supply will fail.
I am not one for rubbishing people however those who choose to steal and
Prey on the uninformed deserve nothing but the worst Karma.

 

[HeadsUp]

Yes he is scum.
Pvcool is one of his eBay user names.
I manufactured the riffles for his over priced product
And I am still waiting on payment 2 years on!
There has been numerous complaints about him on the internet
I know where he goes dredging, with a bit of luck his air supply will fail.
I am not one for rubbishing people however those who choose to steal and
Prey on the uninformed deserve nothing but the worst Karma.

lol

Not just me eh

i bought my hookah air dive pump off his ebay store ( PVCOOL )

It was one of the dodgiest pieces of crap i ever saw and i am amazed that nobody has drowned using them

I spent 2 hours modifying it just to make it safe for use .

I just wish we could block sellers like him on ebay so he doesnt come up in ebay searches , and yes he has at least 2 other ebay identities

scum is the word

.

by the way , i use my Hookah dive pump for sniping and crevicing , i dont own or use a dredge :lol:

 

[YellowFever]

I have forwarded his details to DPI mining etc for investigation into his dredging activitiesi cannot say if he is dredging but the relevant authorities will determine that hopefully soon enough..